A Crane Accident? No amazing Crane Art from Nicole Eisenman: “Fixed Crane”

Nicole Eisenman, a prominent and influential artist in contemporary art, has created a monumental public installation in Madison Square Park that challenges conventional perceptions of heroic symbols linked to human achievement. Titled "Fixed Crane," this work features a toppled industrial crane adorned with handcrafted sculptural elements. This installation represents a pivotal moment in Eisenman’s artistic journey, as it broadens her investigation into the twentieth-century concept of the "readymade," originally introduced by Dada artist Marcel Duchamp in 1916. Duchamp's idea sought to elevate everyday, mass-produced objects to the realm of fine art, and Eisenman pushes the boundaries of figuration within her work. This project coincides with the significant twentieth anniversary of the Madison Square Park Conservancy’s art program.

Visitors to the park can navigate around this deflated machine, which stands as a powerful symbol of construction prowess and urban development, now rendered inert upon the park’s Oval Lawn. Instead of reaching for the sky, the once-mighty 1969 Link-Belt crane lies on its side, provocatively challenging our notions of progress. The operator’s cab, towering nine feet high, the tracks extending twelve feet, and the boom stretching ninety feet, all contribute to this striking visual. Eisenman disrupts the idyllic refuge of the city by placing a rusted symbol of presumed advancement at the forefront. She raises critical questions about cycles of progress in public spaces: how powerful cranes construct skyscrapers—and more recently, "supertalls"—like those emerging near Madison Square Park. Notably, an 860-foot structure has recently risen, obscuring views of the Empire State Building from various vantage points within the park. Eisenman critiques New York City’s relentless pursuit of height, which benefits some while compromising others, and alludes to the potential jeopardy posed to the human condition by ongoing urban development.

Atop the cab sits a diminutive explorer, embodying either surrender or occupation. Sculptural bandages applied to the crane’s boom serve as a means to heal the fallen structure. A large foot, adorned with a Birkenstock sandal beside the engine, signifies a playful yet unexpected force behind the crane’s collapse. Through a small portal, viewers can glimpse a tableau featuring a solitary seated female figure, wrapped in a shawl and illuminated by the soft glow of a chandelier. She occupies a space before a small cast-iron stove, embodying a vision of refuge or perhaps a squatter, as she prepares for a wiener roast, skewering a sausage with a stick. The crane’s original counterweight and internal mechanisms have been transformed into benches, allowing the artist to reveal what was previously concealed within the machine. Viewers are invited to contemplate the fallen crane, a once-commanding force in construction that now lies in stillness.

**ARTIST**

Nicole Eisenman (b. 1965, Verdun, France; currently resides and works in Brooklyn) is celebrated for her innovative and intricate paintings and sculptures. Over the past decade, she has not only created works that possess remarkable presence and influence in the realm of painting but has also emerged as one of the foremost artists in sculpture. Her artistic practice frequently explores the figure within unexpectedly somber or humorous contexts. In her installation for Madison Square Park, the figure is characterized by a small scale and understated presence, contrasting sharply with the substantial physicality of a recumbent crane.

Eisenman has received numerous accolades, including being named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 2015, winning the Carnegie Prize in 2013, and being awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996. In 2018, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her work has been showcased in three Biennials at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (1995, 2012, 2019) and was prominently featured in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2019. A significant survey of her work debuted at the Museum Brandhorst in Munich, Germany, and subsequently traveled to the Whitechapel Gallery in London and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (2023, 2024). Recent solo exhibitions of her work have taken place at prestigious venues including the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo, Norway; the Fondation Vincent van Gogh in Arles, France; Kunsthalle Bielefeld in Germany; Kunstmuseum Den Haag in the Netherlands; and the New Museum in New York.